French president to visit Carrefour store site in Yerevan

YEREVAN, May 7. / ARKA /. The French embassy in Yerevan has declined today media reports saying that French President Francois Hollande who is set to visit Armenia later this month will attend the opening of the French retailer Carrefour’s first store in Yerevan. According to an embassy press release, Hollande will visit the site of the future store.

Earlier, Vazrik Sekoyan, the chief manager of Yerevan Mall that will shelter the first Carrefour store in Armenia, said the store at Yerevan Mall will open in the third quarter of this year.

Carrefour was originally expected to open its first shop at Dalma Garden hypermarket in Yerevan owned by a Russia-based Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan last year shortly after the French retail giant launched its store in neighboring Georgia in September 2012.

However, the chain's entry into the Armenian market was reportedly held back by a local wealthy businessman Samvel Alexanyan, controlling the lucrative imports of food and fast-moving consumer goods to the country. -0-